If you want state of the art kit reviews your in the wrong place. This is more about the evolution of my kit and some of the memorable iterations it has taken.
Most people seem to have gear nowadays, I still have kit for the most part. It tends to be less expensive and less fashionable.
The hat.
The very peak of your physical being. I have a weakness for hats. I am not alone in this but have lived through hard times in the fashion stakes because of it. It is more acceptable to wear a hat in public now, but anything more than a baseball cap with some US sports team is looked at with suspicion in most circles.
At first I needed a hat to tame the unruly hair beneath, and so I did not frighten the horses. Now the years have been unkind to my flowing locks and its more about protecting the top of my head from any amount of weather condition.
At a point in hair failure the auspices of weather take on greater interest. The sun beats down on you harder, the cold is colder, the wind keener, the rain more immediate. In short, substitute hair is needed that is not of the “point and laugh” variety that gets you called wiggy.
I have a more varied collection of hats than any other bit of kit and it is driven by the search for the “perfect” hat. Gloves are a close second in this, but hats win it.
A pair of boots might not be perfect for the terrain, but unless totally bizarre will “do”. Hats just don’t “do”.
My first conscious walking hat decision was in the late 80’s when a large part of the South West Coastal Path was up for the conquest.
An Australian digger style hat was just the thing for a stroll around the SW of England as the sun was most surely to caress me fondly. It also happened to be about the only thing suitable in the rather bizarre army surplus shop. The other offering, a german flying helmet, seemed unlikely to set the right tone.
Miracle of miracles the hat also fitted. I was ready.
In the event the worst storm in living memory struck England ripping up trees in its path. Before it did all that though it had to get past the excessively large sun brim of my hat. I think I saved a few trees from destruction that year by taking some sting out of the gale force winds before it could do more damage inland.
When the weather was not threatening to part my head from my shoulders it was raining. Something the cotton hat was not design to cope with. It was wet for a good part of the walk and green grimy water would eventually run down my face.
When it was not windy or rainy it was in fact windy and rainy. My wonderful hat took the likeness of many rock formations in Monument Valley, often seeming to weigh as much.
The hat actually did years of service, it was only formally retired 4 or 5 years ago when it became to precious a relic of youth to be endangered any longer.
A perfect hat for me needs the following features:
It fits, so I don’t have to go chasing after in on a windy day and does not have to be removed from my head in any sort of wind I can feasibly stand up in.
It keeps the sun off my head, which is defined as everything above shoulder height
It keeps the rain off my head, which in this instance can be slightly smaller area than sun protection requirement.
It keeps me warm up to the point of English temperature extremes.
It does not risk the collapse of my neck muscles from the effort of keeping my head up (because clearly any number of war helmets and armoured jousting helmets fulfil the first 3 criteria).
Provides enough ventilation to not end up a sweat head.
Finally it is not so bizarre that is draws a large enough crowd that walking becomes a problem.
It has been surprisingly difficult to tick all those boxes. Hence the 20 or so “not quite right” examples on my hatstand here. Fashion has played its part in this number as has getting bored with a hat.
Jump forward past wool hats, fur trapper hats, all manner of military efforts. Beanie hats seemed to offer hope, but failed in many respects, the worst being for some reason they ride up on my head till I appear to be an inhabitant of middle earth.
One hat currently stands head and shoulders above all others.
It is bucket style hat, it weighs 44grams, is breathable waterproof abtex and has the neat trick of being capable of folding itself into a flap in its crown.
It fits wonderfully on my head, protects me from wind, rain and sun. Its thermal properties are the weak link but within most “normal” UK temp ranges it does the task.
A headover provides able support for the hat. Headover/snood/necktube, its like a buff but without the fashionable price tag that can be associated with such things. An incredibly versatile bit of kit that is found in many configuration around my neck and head area. There is never a reason to leave home without it.
I am really hoping my search for the perfect English hat is over, near perfect is good enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment